Outdoor enthusiasts embrace watersports. In the category of watercraft fishing, anglers are moving from large and noisy power boats to smaller personal watercraft such as kayaks. Fishermen are rediscovering the accessibility, portability, quiet travel, and lower cost of fishing from canoes and kayaks as was common hundreds of years ago. These small boats can travel into shallow water, marshes, and through narrow passages that larger boats cannot. Kayak fishing provides access to bodies of water that may be off limits to motor driven boats. Traveling in a kayak is also quieter above and below the water to avoid alerting the fish below. Anglers who use kayaks also spend less time and effort transporting, launching, pulling and maintaining their boats, to provide more time on the water catching fish.
To meet the demand from anglers, boat designers and manufacturers have developed open cockpit or sit-on-top kayaks designed for stability on the water, and designed with unique features to accommodate the rods, lures, tools, tanks, paddles, fish finders and other equipment carried by many kayak fishermen. In many cases, fisherman would prefer to stand while fishing. The standing position provides the fisherman with improved sight lines for seeing the fish in the water. The standing position allows for a greater range of motion, and improved control when casting, reeling, or netting the fish because the standing position allows for the use of the angler's legs. Many kayak fishermen also find it more comfortable to stand than remain seated in a customary kayak seated position. Others may become tired when standing for long periods of time, especially when their legs are working to maintain balance within the boat.
Therefore, even with improvements in stability designed into kayak configured for fishing, there remains a need for a device that may help kayak fishermen achieve a balance between the benefits of the sitting and standing positions during a long day on the water.